Report From the ISAT PAC

1. Report From the ISAT PAC 5/11/05 David McGraw

2. Overview • Reminder to prospective 2005 promotion & tenure applicants (20% of Department!) • Proposed Changes to the PAC Guidelines • Composition of PAC & terms of PAC service • “Entire relevant career” language • Professional Service standards • The Merit Increase and Annual Review Process

3. Reminders to Applicants • Applications are due September 15 (by tradition, this is a firm deadline) • Please meet with PAC members to learn more about putting together a good package • Please take the time to look at a good application (such as Bob Kolvoord’s 2002 application, Maria Papadakis’ 2003 application, Anne Henriksen’s 2004 application) • General principles: • Organization is the key – the PAC won’t search through documents looking for needles in the haystack. • Make sure you organize around the criteria and link the criteria with what you’ve done. • It’s up to you to make your case! • Be sure to document everything – a major concern of the PAC in the past has been a lack of documents to substantiate claims.

4. Proposed Change 1 • “Time off” after service on the PAC After having served on the PAC, faculty shall not be required to serve for twice the length of time actually served on the PAC • Examples: • One year as an alternate gets you two years off • Three years of actual service gets you six years off • Three years on the PAC with one year recusal gets you four years off. • Effect: No more than 14 members will have “time off” at any one time, leaving at least 30 possible candidates to serve on the 7-member PAC

5. Proposed Change 2 • Filling of “alternate” positions by lottery among those who have never served on the PAC (or those with longest time since last service on the PAC) • Rather than filling the “alternate” positions by election, the Department Head shall identify all faculty who have never served on the PAC, and randomly select from this group until all alternate positions have been filled. • If all ISAT faculty have served on the PAC, then the Department Head shall identify the faculty who have had the longest time since PAC service, and select from this group randomly.

6. Proposed Change 3 • For both promotion and tenure, the standards applied shall consider all accomplishments of the faculty member’s entire career that are relevant to the member’s role in the ISAT Department, but with greater emphasis placed on recent accomplishments by the faculty member. • Note: This has been the de facto rule the PAC has been following – we’re just trying to make this explicit so everyone will understand the rule and so the PAC will be consistent from one year to the next.

7. Proposed Change 4 Revisions to the Professional service standards. This proposal would: • Remove the two-tiered system, and instead have a single set of criteria. Ratings of “unsatisfactory,” “satisfactory” or “excellent” will be based on a qualitative assessment of how well one meets the criteria. • Reorganize the criteria into three logical groupings: • Service that advances one’s professional scholarly community • Service that advances the mission of JMU, CISAT, and ISAT • Service that benefits society in areas related to one’s professional expertise

8. Professional Service includes activities that advance one’s professional scholarly community, activities that advance the mission of The University, the College, or the Department, and activities that benefit society in areas related to one’s professional expertise. • To receive a Satisfactory rating for Professional Service, the individual must participate in many of the activities listed below at an acceptable level. • To receive an Excellent rating, the individual must be at least Satisfactory in performing the activities below, must demonstrate leadership in service, and must demonstrate many of the achievements listed below to an extraordinary level. • A faculty member who shows serious deficiencies in either quality or quantity of effort shall be rated as Unsatisfactory.

9. 1. Service that advances the mission of James Madison University, the College of Integrated Science and Technology, and the Department of Integrated Science and Technology a) Serving and participating as a valued team member on Departmental, College and University committees, including ISAT representative to the Faculty Senate. b) Participating in public relations events and student recruiting. c) Participating in grant proposals for external funding for teaching and equipment sup-port. d) Serving as a faculty advisor to student organizations. e) Serving as a satisfactory student curriculum advisor. f) Initiating and carrying out a program which leads to a significant increase in ISAT or JMU resources, or in ISAT’s or JMU’s ability to perform its mission. g) A major service or office at the Department, College or University level. h) Service leadership, e.g., the ability to initiate and execute constructive change in the ISAT program. i) Other professional service which the PAC deems to be a leadership contribution.

10. 2. Service that advances one’s professional scholarly community a) Serving as a referee or reviewer of scholarly articles or textbooks. b) Reviewing proposals for sponsored government, academic, or industry programs. c) Serving as an officer of a national or international professional organization. d) Serving as an editorial member of a professional journal. e) A major effort conducting workshops, symposia, and training sessions in one's professional area. f) Other professional service to the faculty member’s professional scholarly community which the PAC deems to be a leadership contribution.

11. 3. Service that benefits society in areas related to one’s professional expertise a) A contribution which applies the resources of the University to solving a problem of local, regional, state, national, or international concern. b) A major effort to solve a problem at the local, state, national, or international level providing a significant benefit to society and in an area directly related to one’s professional expertise. c) A major service or office at the local, state or national level related to one’s professional competence. d) Other professional service directed at the betterment of society in the area of one’s professional competence which the PAC deems to be a significant contribution.

12. Proposed Change 5 • In order to receive a rating of satisfactory or excellent, the faculty member must perform satisfactory service to the Department. • Argument: Service to the professional community and service to the society at large are good things, which we want to reward, but they should not be done in lieu of the more important service, that to the Department – this service should be mandatory for all.

13. Implementation • We suggest that all of these changes go into effect immediately • Would a one-year delay be better? • Or, should this year’s class of applicants be given an option?

14. Annual Review Issue • The JMU Faculty Handbook reads: “The [PAC] shall be involved in the evaluation, an appeal of the evaluation or both.” • Question: To what degree should our PAC be involved?

15. Annual Review Issue • The PAC Recommends that it have as little involvement as possible in the annual review process. • According to our interpretation of the Handbook, we could decide that the Chair would do the evaluation, and then the PAC would become involved only for appeals.

16. Merit Increase Issue • In the PAC’s view, the merit increase process last year was fine – many were unhappy with the result, but that’s inevitable, given that the system requires that a few get more of an increase than the majority. • The PAC Recommends that it have as little involvement as possible in the merit increase process. • If absolutely necessary, the PAC could become involved in helping the Department Head establish a procedure, but then step back and let the Department Head implement that process.